Uchihashi Kazuhisa & Yoshida Tatsuya - Barisshee (Tzadik 2012)

A recent arrival from Tzadik Records.

My first New Japan Release from Tzadik and it fits quite well along side the previous reviewed John Zorn release. A duo of Drums and guitar are gonna have to work pretty hard to keep one interested across a whole album, but these guys, like Zorn and Moore, pull it off wonderfully. The sort of thing that needs concentration to appreciate it fully and I find that easier on the headphones. This album arrived along with several other Tzadik releases and is the one that has most immediately captured my attention and although there are plenty of interesting guitar pyrotechnics going on here it is the frenetic drumming that has really caught my ears, most impressive. Another quality Tzadik release from some seriously talented musos and get a rating of 4/5.

John Zorn & Thurston Moore - "@" (Tzadik/USA 2013)

The John Zorn Discography

And John keeps pumping out the music, much to the delight of us who appreciate most of what he does. This is his 6th release of the year and we are promised another four Zorn related releases over the next two months. I'll never want to wait 5 years between releases that most of these big rock bands make us wait nowadays again.

I was a bit apprehensive about this set, with it being another of his improvised duos, this time with Thurston Moore, and I know that these releases don't have a lot of conventional song structure or melody and I sometimes struggle with that. As you would expect from Thurston, there is plenty of feedback drenched guitar pyrotechnics and experimental jamming combined with plenty of Zorns scronking Sax. The guys have pulled this off surprisingly well and I am finding myself drawn into their improvised soundscapes quite intensely and am far more impressed than I thought I would be. Amongst all the noise and chaos there are also some quite beautiful and almost ambient moments and even a folksy sounding piece from Moore. Not a release for everybody but for the hardcore Zorn 

aficionado this is bloody good. Zorn does it again. 4/5.